Garment



F. J. GROSS Nov, 3, 1953 GARMENT Filed Feb. 26, 1951 INVENTOR.

FRANK J. GROSS A Tram/i Patented Nov. 3, 1953 GARMENT Frank J. Gross, Milwaukee, Wis., assignor to The Church Mart, Inc., Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Application February 26, 1951, Serial No. 212,740

2 Claims.

My invention relates to garments, and more particularly to rain capes constructed of waterproof and water repellant materials. 7

The object of my invention is to provide a comfortable garment that will efliciently and efiectively protect the wearer against the elements.-

Another object of my invention is to provide a rain cape that may be used with or without a hood, and will comfortably'fit the entire contour of the wearer's shoulders and upper portion of the body, yet permit freedom of the hands and arms, without exposing the body of the wearer to the weather.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a garment of the character described that is constructed in a manner whereby sleeves are entirely eliminated.

A further object of my invention is to provide a garment in the form of a, cape to be draped over the wearers shoulders and open at the front. This capeis provided with a pair of segmental panels equipped with engaging means along their open adjacent longitudinal edges and attached at a portion of their other edges to the inside of the cape at the top and bottom thereof.

It is manifest to anyone familiar with garments such as rain coats or capes that inasmuch as they are worn in rain, sleet or general wet weather, that the garment which is constructed of waterrepellant material is inclined to be warm, due to the fact that the body heat of the wearer does not permeate through the material, and when the garments are equipped with sleeves, it is necessary to provide proper ventilating means for air circulation within the garment. The device described, illustrated, and claimed herein provides an enclosure that gives the wearer complete protection against the elements, far more than the conventional slit or extended flap would provide, yet due to the manner in which the panels are attached to the inside of the garment, there is ample space between the panels and thegarment to provide both the easy manipulation of the arms of the wearer without exposing any portion of the body, and the necessary ventilation to permit escape of the body heat.

The device is designed for ease in manufacture, and consists of a cape portion equipped with a pair of panel segments and may be used with a hood, whether fixedly attached thereto or at- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the rain cape equipped with a, hood showing the segmental inner panels closed whereby the edges are brought into engagement with one another, and the cape portion draped downward its entire length.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the cape equipped with a hood showing the cape in a semiopen position to illustrate the manner in which only portions of the rearwardly disposed edges and the upper edges of the panels are attached to the cape.

Figure 3 is a view of the assembled garment as shown in Figure 1 with a portion of the cape and one of the panels folded into an open position, and

Figure 4 is a plan view of the segmental panels only, in engagement with one another along their forward longitudinal edges.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views, and referring now to the same, the character 10 shows a cape which may be constructed of any type of fabric or material but when employed as a rain cape, must, obviously, be made of a moisturerepellant fabric to shed the rain or moisture. The material forming the cape It may be cut out or gathered at the top to form a neck band shown as I I which band may be provided with retaining means such as the cord and streamers l2 and 12', or in any other convenient manner, to keep the ends of the neck band in a closed position, as shown in Figures 1 and 3.

There is a hood l3 which, obviously, may be constructed in any shape or contour and be made of any type of material, preferably the same material as is used to construct the cape It. This hood portion 13, is shown permanently attached to the neck band H of the cape H), but may be supplied as an accessory, that is, equipped with attaching means for engagement or disengagement with the neck band ll of the cape ID. The shape, contour, or construction of the hood is not considered a part of my invention inasmuch as various purposes of use require varied hood construction.

The cape i0 is obviously formed at M and H to fit the shoulders of the wearer, and the cape body proper is suspended from the shoulders of the wearer, and is provided with open edges l5- and I5 which may be held in engagement with one anothergby the wearer, or by any other conyentional retaining means. However, as the edges [5 and I5 are separated from one another, the body of thewearer is still protected by means of the segmental panels l6 and I6 as shown in Figure 4. V I

The panels l6 and I6 are separate units which are attached at their upper edges l1 and at a portion l8 of their rearward edges to the inside of the front portion of the cape 10, either adherently, or they may be stitched by means of sewing. The point of attachment of the panels 16 and IE to the cape l0 extend from the point l9 to the point 20 along the edge l1, and from the point 21 to the point 22 along the rearward edges I8. This arrangement leaves the portion of the edges of the panels [6 and I6 between the points of attachment l9 and 21 open for the engagement of the arms of the wearer, thereby eliminating any need of sleeves, and when the adjacent forward edges 23 and 23 of the segmental panels l6 and I6 are held in engagement with one another by means of buttons as shown at 24, or clasps, hooks and eyes, cords or any other convenient manner, the front of the wearers body will be protected by the panels l6 and 5' while the back, shoulders, and the rest of the body will be enveloped by the cape l0. Even though the front edges l5 and [5 become separated due to the manipulation of the arms of the user extending between the portions 25 of the edges of the panels 16 and I5 and the inside of the cape Hi, the wearer will still be assured of maximum protection against the elements.

In the chosen embodiments of my invention, exemplified by the accompanying drawings, there are features not heretofore revealed in the prior art, and although I have shown a specific structure and arrangement of the parts, I am fully cognizant of the fact that many changes may be made in the form, configuration and arrange ment of the component parts, without affecting their operativeness, and without departing from the spirit of my invention or the scope of my appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent in the United States is:

1. A cape comprising a fabric body portion open at its forward edge, said body portion being provided with a neckband at its upper edge, the open edges of said body portion extending 4 vertically in parallel relation to one another, a pair of longitudinal vertical panel members within said body portion, each of said panel members being attached at the upper edges thereof to the inside surface of the body portion adjacent the neck band, the longitudinal forward edges of said panel members extending vertically in parallel relation to one another adjacent the open edges of said body member, engaging means attached to each of the longitudinal forward edges of said panel members for re- .taining them in engagement with one another,

a lower portion only of the side edge of each panel member being attached to the inner surface of said body portion leaving the greater portion of each side edge free of attachment thereby forming larger-than-usual armhole openings.

2. A garment of the character described comprising in combination, a cape, a hood attached to the upper edge of said cape forming a neckband, said cape and hood being open at their forward edges, engaging means for holding the open edges of said neckband in engagement with one another, a pair of longitudinal panels within said cape, the forward edges extending parallel with the open edges of said cape, said panels being attached at their upper edges'to the inside of said cape adjacent the neckband, a lower portion only of the side edges of each panel being attached to the inner face of said cape leaving the greater portion of each side edge free of attachment thereby forming larger-than-usual armhole openings and engaging means attached to the forward edges of said panels to retain them in engagement with one another.

FRANK J. GROSS.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,271,047 McQuarrie July 21, 1918 2,462,269 Krempel Feb. 22, 19 19 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 1,704 Great Britain 1885 

